With their winning series against Arizona Christian University on March 10-11, the Eagles moved to fifth in the Golden State Athletic Conference and improved to 6-6. Then, a trio of Eagles homered to give Biola a 15-5 victory over Marymount College on March 13 and a 17-10 overall record.

ready to go

“We were ready to go,” said senior left fielder Jeremy Barth. “We had just beat Menlo, the No. 6 ranked team in the nation, so we were feeling good about ourselves. We felt confident that we should sweep that [ACU] series… Our team is growing in confidence right now. We always knew we were a good team, but now we’re starting to play out our beliefs.”

The series opener remained quiet until ACU took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. However, after going back-and-forth with runs for three innings, the Eagles put up eight runs in the eighth to eventually win 13-4.

Leading ACU 5-4, senior first baseman Jonas Wellan, who went 3-5 for the game, sparked Biola’s rally with an RBI single. Junior right fielder Phil Knapp hit an RBI double before the Eagles scored on three consecutive bases-loaded walks. Sophomore third baseman Joey Magro doubled in a run to cap Biola’s offensive inning.

Despite allowing four runs, junior starting pitcher Micah Beyer improved to 4-3 and struck out 11, tying his season-high.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Biola had a 4-1 lead until the seventh inning, where ACU went on to beat the Eagles 8-6. The Firestorm added three in the eighth, which proved just enough to outlast Biola bringing the gap down to just one run in the ninth. With two outs and the game-tying run at the plate, the Eagles fell just short of completing their comeback.

The bats keep rolling

However, they ended up winning the series by taking game two of the doubleheader 7-2. The Eagles took a 2-0 lead over ACU on a wild pitch and bases-loaded walk in the first, then added three runs to their lead in the fourth. Through six innings of work in his fourth start of the season, senior pitcher Gabe Ihrig held ACU to six hits and one run while striking out his season-high of six batters.

The Eagles then played a solo out-of-conference game against Marymount, when Barth, freshman designated hitter Andy Van Antwerp and junior first baseman Colton Worthington each hit home runs in Biola’s emphatic 15-5 victory.

With plenty of momentum, the Eagles travel to The Master’s University for a three-game series starting on March 17 at 3 p.m.